- Name 58 of 70A Father of the Fatherless
- HebrewAvi yetomim
- In plain wordsThe Father of every child who has lost a father
- Where to find itPsalm 68:5, in a victory song of David
God calls Himself a father to the fatherless in Psalm 68:5. The King James words are A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation
. In Hebrew the name is Avi yetomim, "Father of orphans." It tells you that the God who rules heaven pays close attention to the children nobody else is watching out for.
A loud song with a quiet line
Psalm 68 is a song of David, and it is one of the most dramatic songs in the Bible. It opens with a shout: Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered
(Psalm 68:1). The verses that follow picture God marching ahead of His people through the wilderness (Psalm 68:7 to 8). The ground shakes. Mount Sinai trembles. Kings and armies run. In verse 4 the singers call God the One who rides on the heavens, and they praise Him by His short name, Jah.
Then, right after all that power, verse 5 tells you what kind of God this is. He is not only the Warrior who scatters armies. He is the Father of children who have no father, and the defender of women who have lost their husbands.
That would have sounded surprising to anyone in the ancient world. Kings bragged about the cities they had conquered. Here the King of heaven lists the orphan and the widow among His titles. The next line adds that He setteth the solitary in families
(Psalm 68:6). Solitary means alone. God's habit is to take people who are by themselves and give them a home.
Why the fatherless needed a Father
In Israel, a family's land, money and safety were tied to the father. A boy or girl without one had nobody to bargain for them, defend them in a dispute or keep greedy neighbors off their field. A widow faced the same danger. These were the people most likely to go hungry and the easiest to cheat.
God wrote protection for them right into His law. At Mount Sinai He gave a warning with teeth in it:
Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;
Exodus 22:22-23
To afflict someone is to mistreat them or make them suffer. God was saying that the child who looks unprotected actually has the most powerful Protector of all.
David lived this out. After he became king he asked whether anyone from the family of Saul was still alive, so that he could show them the kindness of God
(2 Samuel 9:3). There was one: Mephibosheth, the son of David's dear friend Jonathan. He had lost his father and his grandfather in a single day when he was five years old, and he was lame in his feet after a fall while his nurse ran away with him (2 Samuel 4:4). David gave him back his family's land and told him thou shalt eat bread at my table continually
(2 Samuel 9:7). A fatherless boy ended up with a permanent seat at the king's table. David called it the kindness of God, because that is what God is like.
Avi yetomim: the words one at a time
Avi is the Hebrew word for father with an ending that means "father of." Yetomim is the plural of yatom. Strong's lexicon, a standard word list for the King James Bible, describes a yatom as a bereaved person, someone who has lost a parent. The King James Bible almost always translates it fatherless. Because the word is plural, the title is wide. God is not the Father of one lucky orphan. He is the Father of all of them.
The second title in the verse is a judge of the widows
. The Hebrew word is dayan, which Strong's explains as a judge or an advocate. An advocate is someone who speaks up for you in court. That is exactly what a widow needed. Her problem was not only grief. It was legal. Some modern Bible versions bring this out by calling God the defender of widows.
The verse ends with a location: in his holy habitation
. The word for habitation is ma'on, a dwelling place. The place where God lives is not closed to the lonely. It is where He brings them.
More King James verses about God and the fatherless
He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Deuteronomy 10:18
Moses told Israel that the great and mighty God makes sure the fatherless get justice. Raiment is an old word for clothing.
Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
Psalm 10:14
To requite is to pay back. God sees cruelty aimed at the weak, and He does not let it slide.
The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
Psalm 146:9
To relieve someone is to lift a weight off them. This psalm lists it as one of the regular things God does.
Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
Hosea 14:3
When Israel finally turned back to God, they gave up trusting in Asshur (Assyria) and in idols, and they gave this reason: with God, the fatherless find mercy.
If you grew up without a dad
Some people reading this lost a father to death. Others had a father who walked out, or one who stayed in the house but was never really there. Some are grown adults who still feel that empty space at graduations, weddings and holidays. If that is you, this name was written with you in mind. God did not put "Father of the fatherless" in fine print. He put it in a victory song, next to His greatest deeds.
Mephibosheth never stopped being lame. The king's kindness did not erase his story. It gave him a place to belong in the middle of it. God works the same way. He does not pretend your loss did not happen. He sets you at His table anyway.
The name also comes with a job. In Scripture, God's care for orphans usually travels through His people: farmers who left grain at the edge of the field, judges who ruled fairly, a king who sent for a forgotten boy.
- Tell God honestly what the missing father has cost you, and ask Him to be a Father to you in that exact place.
- If you are a teen without a dad at home, look for one trustworthy older adult at church or school, and let them help you.
- If you are a grown man or woman, think of one child or single parent near you who could use a steady friend.
- Read Psalm 68:1 to 6 out loud and notice where verse 5 lands.
The next name in the book is My Redeemer, the cry of a man who had lost his children and his friends but held on to One who was still alive. Before this name came the Potter and the clay. The full set is on the names of God and their meanings page.
